Clijsters sustained an injury to her right ankle in April but recovered in time to play at the French Open in May, where she was knocked out in the second round by Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. The injury sustained at Rosmalen is also to her right ankle but is not a flare-up of the one from April, her trainer said; this time she has a bruised ankle and a pinched tendon.

“I’m extremely disappointed that I have to pull out of Wimbledon,” said Clijsters last week. “I feel very frustrated that this should have happened just before one of my favourite tournaments. I always enjoyed being part of the atmosphere of Wimbledon, but I have no other choice than to rest and to avoid playing tennis for a couple of weeks.”

Flanders’ other tennis hopeful, Yanina Wickmayer (WTA 19), had just won her first match at Wimbledon as Flanders Today went to press, beating American Varvara Lepchenko (WTA 85) 7-5, 6-3.